The stone wall is a New England icon. Our soil is rocky and early farmers spent a lot of time clearing planting and grazing fields of stones and piling them at the edges to make walls of varying durability. Actually, we New England gardeners are still pulling stones out of the soil and piling them where they won’t be in the way, or using them as another resource. Here at End of the Road Farm we…
What a celebratory weekend. All due honor has been paid to our veterans, and even the tree peony has joined in those solemnities. Appropropriately, she is named (in translation) The Face of the Goddess of Compassion. This year she has nine blossoms, each about 7 inches across. Next to Guan Yin is another tree peony, planted at the same time, about 5 or 6 years ago (the relevant journal has gone missing) but she is smaller and will have…
Who would not want to belong to a group of people who not only grow giant pumpkins, but like to smash them, wear orange tuxedos, sail in pumpkin regattas, tour pumpkin patches and compete at fairs for the honor of growing the biggest pumpkin? Recently I attended a meeting of the Franklin County Giant Pumpkin Growers Association who haven’t yet, done all of these things, but they are in touch with other growers across the country…
My friend Peter who reads this blog, and others, responded to the review of Covering Ground by Barbara Ellis with the following post and request. "I need some gardeners' advice. The two photos show the side area of our house. It was cleared and a lawn (of sorts) planted before we bought the place. We do not use the area, and our dogs don't go down there either. Its value is in providing a respite with open space…
Things are blooming here at End of the Road Farm. The Sargent crab in the Sunken Garden is magnificent. So are the dandelions. It is so wet we haven't been able to mow here yet. The lilacs are also in full fragrant bloom. On Saturday I worked at the Shelburne Falls Area Women's Club plant sale, which includes many many divisions from our famous Bridge of Flowers. Now it is time to plants my new beds. I also got…
When I woke up on the first Earth Day, nearly 40 years ago, gas for my old car cost about 29 cents a gallon, I had never heard of recycling, and I didn’t worry much about lights left on, or watering my lawn. Things have changed since then. Gas prices got up to over $4 a gallon and struck terror into all our hearts. Recycling is an everyday habit for many of us. I not…
If any edible garden is going to be a cost saving endeavor, thought has to be given to preserving the harvest. The labor in harvesting and preserving herbs is not onerous, but it must be done in a timely fashion. Timeliness is essential. Harvest your herbs before they bloom, while they are at their most flavorful. Cut them in the morning, after the dew has dried, but before the heat of the day. For hundreds…
Dandelions and violets in the flowery mead are still blooming. Johnny jump ups are scattered everywhere. Where do they all come from? I wonder what a johnny jump up seed looks like flying on the wind. I'm not sounding like much of a gardener so far. Many of the daffodils are starting to wind down, but others like this pheasant eye daff (Poeticus) bloom late. When I visited the daffodils at Tower Hill Botanic Garden last year I…
“Green your garden” sounds like an unnecessary admonition, but as the discussion about global warming heats up (pun intended) gardeners are looking at ways to lower their gardens’ carbon footprint. Because digging the soil releases carbon into the atmosphere no-till cultivation methods have gained new advocates. In addition to saving human energy, sheet composting/lasagna gardening has become more popular. Another way of reducing the carbon footprint of the garden is to reduce the size of the…
Rose season has begun. My purchases from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas arrived in good shape. The Double Red Knock-Out will join two others on the bank at the end of the house where I hope they will grow into a large clump. Pink Grootendorst which is billed as a large moundy rugosa will also go on the bank. I also shopped in my own garden and dug up some roots from my Dart's Dash, a low rugosa…